Laptops

L

Locust

Joined
Sep 30, 2008
Messages
539
Seeing as my laptop is now almost seven years old I think it's time I got a new one. I haven't paid much attention in a while and was wondering what companies are still good and what prices I should expect. I have started some research and have balked at a few prices but perhaps those are the average. I am looking for something with a 15-17ish inch screen and if possible I would like a keyboard with a number pad built in. I would also like a built in DVD player and built in camera. Weight is not a huge issue. If I am going to take it somewhere it would just be for an occasional change of scenery when writing. I am not interested in a Mac at the moment and I have been rather unimpressed with my Toshiba so unless the company has improved greatly in recent years I'm not interested in that either. I was leaning towards a Dell but I'm wide open to all other options. Will it be possible for me to stay under $1,000.
 
Buy a refurbished one dude.
If you have a computer fair or market thing on near you :thumbup:
 
I have a Samsung and would say they are worth a look.

Model numbers often differ between the US and UK so not sure which model numbers to suggest unfortunately. Same with pricing - you usually pay about half of what we pay!

I think you could stay under $1000 though as long as you dont want a high spec machine. I paid just over £400 for my laptop, which is around $640, and we have much higher sales taxes than you too.

I also like HP if you prefer a US brand. I dont have one of their laptops at the moment but have had in the past and not had any issues.
 
I like my Toshiba Satellite.
can be had with athlon or intel chipset, camera, DVD/CD R/W w/lightscribe.
if you go with 15.6" or larger on the screen, you get the keypad.
frequently see them advertised in the $500-700 range at brick & mortar stores, Tiger Direct, newegg, etc... beat that often.
 
Yeah, get a refurb, especially one from Dell. My last few laptops have been Dell refurbs and they are often superb deals. My current laptop is an XPS 15 with 8GB RAM, Core i7 740, 2GB video, LED backlit screen and keyboard, Blu-Ray, and all kinds of other goodies for around $850 (was around $2500 retail at the time). Check the Dell Outlet Twitter account for coupons. If you can wait, they will eventually post a good one.
 
+1 on the Dell Refurbs. Also had a Lenovo (formerly/aka IBM) refurb that I really liked.
 
Off topic - thanx for the discount code Storl, that will come in handy at your store! Love your flashlight review videos, BTW.
 
I just got a laptop from cyberpowerpc.com..i'm very happy with it. They really specialize in gaming computers but I say check them out! I think I spent around $670 for mine and it meets all of your requirements.
 
Thanks for the advice. Like I said I am not interested in a Mac right now. I will have to look into the referb suggestion. I hadn't really considered it before and I feel a bit uncomfortable with the idea but no harm looking. I'll check out Cyberpowerpc bmilla. 1066vic I have heard that Toshiba is getting good reviews now. I'll have to look into them again.
 
The best customer service I've dealt with when it comes to Laptop computers was with Fujitsu. Toshiba comes in a close second when it comes to service, durability and overall performance.

I'm using a Dell and an HP now and the Dell is a bit tougher than the HP. While the HP keyboard is as fragile as an egg shell I'd still recommend HP over the Dell. The Dell I'm using is two years old and struggles with docking and un-docking and lacks some of the simple features of the HP like a SD slot.

If you can swing it look for a Fujitsu. On a budget I'd opt for an HP.
 
My daughter just bought a refurbished ASUS from Best Buy for $475 including tax and shipping. So far, she's very pleased. It's blindingly fast, though it isn't recommended for gaming. Seems to be well built.
 
I would say that the model you get really depends on what you need to do with it. If you are going to be working on processor and graphics intensive tasks like HD video, say you want to do some knife reviews, you will need something faster with better graphics a faster processor and more ram.

If you want something nicely designed with good customer support and have the extra cash then get a macbook or macbook pro. This is also good if you have other apple gear like an iphone or ipod.

Otherwise, just about any computer that has come out in the last couple of years will be adequate, especially if you just use the web and take the odd photo...

Personally I'm a mac person but really any tool depends more on the operator...
 
I recently bought a Sony laptop with I7, quadcore, etc. with Window7 installed. Nice unit, but there is a huge learning curve associated with using windows 7. There is too many functions that will swamp novice computer users like myself. There is nothing easy about using the video software for working with pics or videos like Sony's PMB or windows movie maker. This is work that I get the younger neighbor across the road to do. So be warned about using windows 7 if you think its easier.
 
Im a gamer, so i use alienware, if you have the money to get a refurbished one go for this, its cool, the m11x is super portable, never crashes, and has a moneyback guarantee, great machine also, very very very very fast
 
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